DESCHAMPS HAILS 'BEAUTIFUL' FRANCE

Mathieu Valbuena's impressive late strike gave thevisitors a narrow away victory over CristianoRonaldo and PortugalFrance head coach Didier Deschamps paid tribute tohis players after they responded to his call fordesire and aggression in a 1-0 friendly win overPortugal in Lisbon.

Substitute Mathieu Valbuena's late free-kickclinched the win for France, who dominated Friday'sgame and played some attractive attacking football,despite clear cut chances being few and farbetween.

Deschamps was pleased to end a run of defeats intheir previous two outings, and said: "We showed alot of aggression, we had some good moves, andwe did not concede a goal.

"Beyond the result against a good Portugal team,we had the ingredients we needed. We had thebetter chances and could have scored before wedid."We had a stranglehold on the second half. I sawbeautiful things."

Goalscorer Valbuena showed no sign of resentmentat having to play from the bench and looked forwardto the next friendly against Serbia in Bordeaux onMonday.

He said: "It is a group, a family. Those who are onthe bench must be decisive when they get achance.

"We did a good job; the mood has returned. Weshowed that we were together. We had chancesand that's encouraging - it will continue againstSerbia."